Stax/Volt

I never write checks, so this blog is the only thing that I write the wrong year on after the calendar filps over.

Marvin Gaye, “I Heard It Through the Grapevine”

A stone-cold classic.

Polyrhythmics, “Cosimo”

A lovely EP from 2020, Fondue Party continues a string of winners from Polyrhythmics. That sax solo is delicious, I love that they gave it so much space.

Dr. Dre, “Still D.R.E.”

Damn, this album turned 20 today. I still think of it as the “new” Dre release. And there’s been a more recent Dre record!

Nitzer Ebb, “Control I’m Here (live)”

I mentioned the other day that I kept up with the proliferation of Nitzer Ebb releases for a while, and this is a good example of what a pain in the ass that was. When they started picking up some momentum after Nine Inch Nails brought a lot of attention to the genre, the label decided to try and pick up some buzz for Ebbhead by releasing a live EP. But did they just release a live EP? Oh my, no. They released it in two separate discs you had to buy, with the first one including a slip case that would fit the second one. Did they release both halves at once to make it easier to pick up? Of course not! I did find both halves, and frankly, it’s just a live EP and totally not worth tracking down.

Elvis Costello, “New Amsterdam”

This song is actually a demo that Costello recorded, and then included directly on the record instead of re-recording it. The result is one of the more distinctive songs on the album, a minimal arrangement that ends up letting the clarity of the melody shine through.

Girl Talk, “Still Here”

It’s always a little strange to hear one of the Girl Talk songs out of the context of the albums. It shouldn’t be, because they’re such chameleons, but the progression of songs is burned into my brain so it throws me off. In other news, I love the bit from The Band on this track.

Otis Redding, “Try a Little Tenderness”

One of Redding’s iconic hits, this is actually a much older song, more than thirty years old when he recorded what is by now the definitive version. The very slow build up throughout the song is such a delight, a masterclass in pacing.

Mastodon, “Steambreather”

After a couple albums of relatively accessible music in The Hunter and Once More ‘Round The Sun, where Mastodon kind of stepped away from their most elaborate tendencies, they made something of a return to the style with Emperor of Sand. Part of that is the return of the same producer who helped them make Crack the Skye, part of that is the desire to make a concept album again, but whatever it is, it’s my favorite of the latter-day Mastodon albums. Although I haven’t really fully digested the most recent one, so I don’t know about that record yet.

Albert King, “Crosscut Saw”

A repeat! I think we’ve actually had it at least twice before. Still smokes, though.

Einstürzende Neubauten, “Good Morning Everybody”

God, the opening of this song is so menacing. This is from Grundstück, the second supporter-only album that they released in 2005, back when crowdfunding was still something pretty far out of the mainstream. They successfully funded and released a series of albums, relying primarily on word of mouth to find folks and doing payments directly. The resulting albums were no compromise, they’re full-on Neubauten records and this one in particular is excellent.

Negativland, “Announcement”

You know what? We’re trying it again today!

Keep of Kalessin, “Dark Divinity”

Better! WE DID IT, FOLKS

All You Can Eat, “Family Matters”

Long forgotten Bay Area punk band, they put out a couple albums in the early 90s and then disappeared. I’d characterize their sound as, uh, early 90s Bay Area punk. It’s fine, I listened to a ton of these bands at this time and a lot of them were pretty undifferentiated. This band included.

Bim Skala Bim, “Chief Inspector”

A big part of the ska scene in the late 80s and early 90s was an active trade in compilations. It allowed bands to get their music out and prime the audiences for touring, which is where bands built up a following. One series of comps was the Mashin’ Up The Nation series, which this was part of volume 2 of. It’s an unusually raw track for Bim Skala Bim, but a lot of the songs on these comps tended towards the raw, because many of them were low budget or live.

Eggs, “The Government Administrator”

Eggs was one of the Teenbeat bands, making indie pop at a time when that was pretty uncommon, running straight against the current of grunge and heavy rock that was dominating taste at the time. A lot of these bands also valued being very clever in their tunes, sometimes a bit too much. At any rate, this comes from the singles comp, ‘How Do You Like Lobster?’ A Collection of Crustaceans and Flotsam, the title of which kind of makes the point. For all that, they could really write some solid tunes, and I actually like this comp the most out of their records.

Pigs, “Bug Boy”

Side project of Unsane bassist Dave Curran, it’s easy to see the lineage here. This is just pure noise rock in the NYC form, all splattered riffs and yelling. So, yeah, of course I like this. Both Pigs albums are totally worth listening to if you’re a noise rock person.

Iron & Wine, “Pagan Angel and a Borrowed Car”

Iron & Wine is one of those acts where I always enjoy listening to his stuff, and simultaneously have trouble distinguishing it. If you asked me what made this album (The Shepherd’s Dog) different from his other work, I’d have to kind of shrug a little bit. It’s all good, but it’s tough to say what my favorite is.

Fall Out Boy, “Saturday”

Pop punk is one of those genres that never really changes or evolves, and just relies on sappy emotion and snappy songs. You really need to nail the catchy songs and the energy or it’s going to come across as limp or manufactured. When done right, though, it’s delightful. That said, the first couple Fall Out Boy records totally nail it, so happy for this to come up.